Natchez

Yesterday I went to Natchez, MS, which is about three hours to the west of us on the Mississippi/Louisiana border, for the Mississippi Library Association Conference. After being at the conference for a few hours, I explored the town and just fell in love with it. It kind of reminded me of a southern Hannibal, Missouri if any of you have ever been there. Natchez is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and you can see Louisiana on the other side. In fact, I drove over the bridge into Vidalia, LA, and then turned around and came right back (it was my first time in Louisiana). I took a stroll along the river, walked the streets and checked out the mansions all the while thinking, "I wish Jeff were here. He would love this." I think it might be fun to go in the spring for his birthday.

Natchez is a very old city and at different times has been under French, British, and Spanish rule. Natchez was also the first capital of the Mississippi Territory.
I wanted to see an antebellum mansion, so I randomly picked one of the houses to tour. It turns out the house I toured on Ellicott Hill is perhaps the oldest mansion in town and is decorated to reflect about the year 1798. The American flag was first raised on Ellicott Hill in 1797 under orders from President George Washington as a sign to the Spanish to skeedaddle.



I got a private tour of the house, and it was absolutely fascinating. I learned that in that time period bed linens and doors were a sign of wealth. Every room in the house had a door to the outside. Apparently doors indicated wealth because door frames were an item that could be taxed. I also saw lots of household tools I hadn't come across before--the most interesting being a candle that could be hooked to the back of a chair or stuck into a wall and used as a reading light. The house also had two original deathbed paintings from the 1600s. I asked if the paintings had age/smoke damage as they seemed so dark, but the guide informed me that they were supposed to be dark and the subjects pale and hidden in the shadows since they were near death. Duh!